here to help me out is mary kate mcgrath.zine. >> good morning. >> let's get right over there to billy ray. got your first question ready? >> i'm ready to go. you ready? according to old superstition, what does the practice of wearing new clothes on easter bring? "a," wealth. "b," happiness. "c," health. or "d," good luck. >> we'll say "d," good luck. >> the answer is -- what's the answer, kathie? >> go ahead. >> the answer is good luck. correct. >> they didn't win my cd. they get the money. billy ray. give her the money. good luck. where did that come from? >> it started in mid-1800. if you wear new -- your easter finery on easter you're guaranteed good luck for the rest of the year. easter bonnets, pastels and everything and you should have a good year. >> good luck with that. billy ray, second question? >> all right. how many glasses of wine -- kathie, you're going to know this one. how many glasses of wine are traditionally drunk at a passover seder meal. "a," one, "b," two, "c," three, or "d," four. >> we'll go with one.

for some tips, we visited mary kate steinmiller, a fashion editor at teen vogue. what aspects of a person's physical appearance do others notice first? >> i think that having general cleanliness and having well-groomed hair and nails is always really important. >> what are some of the wardrobe basics a person should start off with? a>> it's always good to have a white, button-down blouse. it's crisp and fresh. a simple blazer that's fitted and not too boxy is great to have, and some floral dresses that you can lay your cardigans over are perfect, too. >> with the help of three intern volunteers, mary kate gave us an informal fashion show. and don't worry, guys -- she included some tips for you, as well. this is lizzy, and lizzy is dressed a little bit too conservatively, a little too serious, old for her age. you know, it's a full suit. it doesn't really seem like it's young and fresh and doesn't show any of her personality. so now lizzy is dressed with a blazer, but she's doing it as a "do." this is actually a blazer from the kids' department, which is a great wa

anna goldberg also here and mary kate cary in washington, former speechwriter for president george h.bkay, let me start with you. poll numbers really show a problem for mitt romney with women. 16-point margin. is there anything that he can do to close that gap given that his secret weapon, ann romney, he's already used that weapon? >> i think the polls are showing that mitt romney is more vulnerable than he'd like to be. but it's not hopeless. he can pivot like he did this week very easily to get back to those pocketbook issues that the women want to hear about. one thing we learned last week with the hilary rosen incident was that the women's vote is not monolithic. the fact that the president, the vice president, the first lady, the head of the campaign, the dnc, all lowered the boom on her so quickly, said to me that they see how volatile the women's vote is as well. we saw tremendous movement in 2010 during the midterms so it's not a hopeless situation for romney. i think he can turn this around. >> you're sort of looking skeptical there, michelle. >> the only thing that the hilary

mary thompson and kate kelly with us as well. neil, what did you make of mr.s comments and specifically as it relates to morgan stanley's bottom line results? >> obviously we know what's on his mind and that is potential credit downgrade from moody's which could cost morgan stanley a lot of business. what you've seen in general for the banks however is what they have been doing is improving their results by having lower -- excuse me by having lower charges for credit, then bad debt than what you're really going to be seeing here is this can't go on forever. >> mary, let me turn to you. do you agree? and what did you find the most compelling out of morgan stanley's report? >> most compelling out of morgan stanley's report is this is a company that saw revenue in fixed and equity training increase on a year over year basis in the first quarter. that is quite -- basically that's a standout from the other big investment banks. a number of them have tough comparisons year over year. so that was certainly a -- that was good news for morgan stanley. as far as the oth

. >> a "today" fashion contributor and senior fashion editor at "marie claire." kate eed gorgeous. it's a dress not available to the general public yet. she had it embellished at the neckline. she's custom making things now which is interesting for her. >> it seems as though her fashion has evolved since we first saw her in that blue isa dress when she was announcing she was engaged to prince william back in 2010. >> she has had quite the fashion evolution over the last year. this dress sparked a little blue dress trend. gone was the little black dress, now into the little blue dress. i think the reason, it was so relatable. every woman could see herself in this dress. and it sparked so many knockoffs, if you like. it was affordable as well. you could get this dress for, like, 30 bucks. >> and there were a lot of knockoffs even of her wedding gown which, of course, was crafted by the very talented sarah burton. i'm wondering, not everyone loved this dress. and yet did it help make her a style icon in >> absolutely. it was tipped in elegance. it was that beauty of the

kate. naya hawkins, associated press. todd purdham, "vanity fair." mary miliken, reuters. monica hopkins, el dorado pictures. nora halpern, americans for the arts. allison fitzgerald, freelance journal and speaker committee chair. i'm going to skip our speaker for just a moment. robert cardon, cardon communications and speakers committee member who organized this luncheon. nina ozlu tunceli, american for the arts. mark winow, kiplinger's. nicki schwab, washington examiner, yeas and nays columnist. bob madigan, wtop. pam stevens, msnbc. [ applause ] our guest today is an award-winning actor, producer, director, and author. he has starred on the big screen, on television, and on broadway. alec baldwin has won two emmy awards and a number of screen actor guild awards for playing the self-absorbed jack donaghy on the hit television show "30 rock." he has hosted "saturday night live" a record 16 times and is a well-known frequent flyer and american airlines fan. a native of long island, mr. baldwin began his career in soap operas in the early 1980s before moving on to broadway

i'm kate amara sitting in for lisa robinson. >> and we're going to check first with meteorologist ava mariething right there. april fool's! >> i was wondering, why is she telling me this on air? >> love it. >> i don't like pranks because i fall for them. i tell people right away. i don't like to spring people along. -- string people along. >> well, no one is going to take my forecast seriously. >> we are. >> we really should be near 38 this time of year. it is cloudy with mostly calm winds, partly cloudy skies. partly sunny. a chance for shourds later on. i think they will hold off until the evening hours. temperatures today above normal. we continue this mild trend. that continues in the seven day. we'll detail when we come back. stay tuned. >> thanks, ava. >> now to our big story this moorning. a campus in shock. two towson university students die within hours of one another. >> sheldon dutes has more from the campus. >> the students here at towson university are still trying to wrap their heads around this tragic weekend. a lot say they were shocked and sadened to fine out two school mat

kate amara has this exclusive story tonight. >> the deacon is about to take the final step in a very long journey. from kenya, he has been studying at st. mary's seminary and he will be ordained a priest on june 9. >> through all the years, my family is there praying for me, looking forward to the day when i become a priest. >> it takes years, nearly a decade to get to this point. in layman's terms, it is kind of like your wedding day. you want your family there, but as it stands now, isaacs' family will not be able to attend the ceremony. his sisters were denied travel visas to come to the ordination. >> i was really, really sad about that. i cannot explain how sad it is that they will not be able to be with me during this occasion. >> josephine in mary still live in kenya. both of them have children, but isaacs said the reason given for denial was that the women do not have strong family ties. >> when i talk to my sisters, they said they were not asked that question. there were only asked one question, how much did they make per month? >> an appeal is in the work and u.s. senator ben cardin is helping to make their case. this is something yo

mary, thank you very much. >>> meantime, citi rival bank of america selling its wealth management business outside of the u.s. kate kelly is on that story. what's behind the move, kate? >> i think a couple of things are going on here. i think primarily it's an effort on ceo brian moynahan's part to execute on the plan new bac he unveiled last year. which is essentially a streamlining effort, a cost cutting effort. they're going to be getting rid of noncore assets. they've been doing that for the last year plus. unfortunately also they're making a number of head count reductions. that's been an ongoing effort. what we're seeing today is news that they're going to be taking bids to sell their non-u.s. wealth management business. that's everything except the latin american piece from what i understand. it sounds as though the valuation on this business is somewhere between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, although, of course, we'll see what happens in the bidding process. they expect, i think, to see fairly traditional wealth management entities making a play for it. maybe a julius bear type company. maybe deutsche bank.

mary thompson. let's talk more about today's rally, the financials, and how the events in europe are influencing or not actually influencing investor sentiment in today's "closing bell" exchange. bill? >> back at headquarters, it's kate kelly and simon hobbs. kate, i don't know about you, but it's been under the microsoft for four years now and the economy is getting better. >> well, yes. and some of these firms are quite good at beating expectations. i can hardly remember the last time goldman didn't. they tend to be good on that score and deliver the upside surprise. but, yeah, i think the theme here, if there is one, financials are looking a little better but not blowing anybody's socks off. we are seeing a first quarter better than the fourth. >> they were on life support for a while. >> absolutely. but let's remember the fourth quarter tends to be weak relative to the first quarter. so it's not a total surprise that a number of these banks have shown strength in trading. citigroup, still despite meredi meredith whitney making a modest upgrade of her perception of the stock after her muni call, citi still has some strength in the m muni area. there are signs of life. but as david said today, they are very cautiou